Guy Weismantel, of the Digital Insurer, provides a succinct description of insurtech and its effect on the industry:

“In an over-simplified world, many see insurtech as being the technology behind insurance. In the real world, however, insurtech is a term applied to the many segments of new technology that are disrupting the insurance space: smartphone apps, consumer activity wearables, claim acceleration tools, individual consumer risk development systems, online policy handling, automated compliance process, and more.”

And this is all for good reason. Here is why we should be playing close attention.

Combining Insurance and Technology

Following the sales and service successes introduced by fintech, insurtech has arrived to disrupt the status quo of the insurance marketplace, namely, auto and home insurance.

Also, what can work for auto and home, can work for basic commercial policies.

How the Disruption Happens

According to The US Treasury, assets for insurance in the US total over $8 trillion and the US insurance industry reported net premiums at $1.27 trillion.

Today, consumers want to be able to get educated, receive a quote, and purchase a policy from the comfort of their home, car, or a restaurant via their cell phone in a matter of minutes.

Just like fintech has disrupted and is transforming the financial world, insurtech has placed a bulls-eye on the insurance industry. When a large market segment is ripe for a change, disruption happens.

Who is The Beneficiary?

When consumers get what they want at an affordable price, they reward the provider rapidly. After the technological investments have been made, insurers and agencies will recognize sales increases and lower cost of doing business.

Consumers will benefit from dealing with a streamlined and informed purchase that takes only moments out of their busy day.

Insurtech technology will provide a clearer picture of consumer habits, which allows actuaries to determine a more accurate cost of claims.

Any Negative Impacts?

Certainly, insurance carriers who align their interests with those of the consumer will benefit from the idea of insurtech.

Industry incumbents who disagree and choose to stick with old-time product distribution are likely to witness an exodus of consumers who are fed up with traditional consumption models.

Insurtech companies like Lemonade have arrived and are gathering the millennials and generation-xers who are in distress and crying out for a better way.

For a case study, check out the simplicity of Lemonade's user-friendly business model.

Final Thoughts

Insurtech is the next big thing for the insurance industry and the market they serve.

Research conducted by SMA indicates that about 30 percent of insurtech players are focused on disrupting distribution channels. This is thanks in large part to the continued advancement in mobile technology.

What are your distribution channels? And, how can they be affected by the above discussion?

The insurtech disruption turns traditional insurance sales and service on its head and can benefit consumers in a profound way.

Looking forward to seeing what big things come from insurtech in 2017.

In 2016, global insurtech investments totaled $1.7 billion, with both the volume and value of deals roughly doubling since 2014. This doesn’t include companies that are self-funded, have traditional financing, or work with angel investors to bring innovation to the $4.5 trillion global insurance industry. And, every segment of the insurance value chain has been impacted by those investments, including claims.

We are excited to announce our partnership with the CCC ONE platform to help insurance policyholders file self-service claims remotely. CCC ONE is a cloud platform developed by CCC Information Services, Inc. (CCC), a leading software as a service provider to the automotive, insurance, and collision repair industries. Founded in 1980, CCC leverages the CCC ONE platform to link a vast network of more than 350 insurance carriers, more than 24,000 repair facilities, hundreds of part suppliers, dozens of third-party data and service providers, and car manufacturers.

Through this partnership, CCC’s customers can electronically connect to our on-demand field force of more than 40,000 well-trained Lookers who are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our Lookers are always standing by to help insurers provide a high-level of service at a critical point in the claims process. When assigned, one of our Lookers will gather imagery and information in the field, in any U.S. location—even rural areas—in as little as one day.

How it works

When a claim qualifies for CCC’s mobile channel, policyholders are instructed by their insurer how to capture and upload photos of the damage via their smart device. However, when the policyholder requests assistance, or they do not complete the process within the insurer-defined period, insurers can send us an electronic notification through CCC ONE.

As soon as we receive the request for assistance, we dispatch a nearby Looker to take and upload photos to CCC ONE. Once the photos are uploaded, they are immediately available for insurance appraisers to initiate the claims or repair process.

Additionally, any of CCC’s customers can directly assign claims to WeGoLook through CCC ONE. Once assigned, we immediately dispatch Lookers to capture and upload photos and other requested information from the site of the claim.

It’s a win, win, win

We’re very excited about this partnership the many ways it allows WeGoLook to offer value to policyholders and insurers alike. With CCC and WeGoLook, policyholders gain an even more seamless experience when filing self-service claims. Insurers get access to our on-demand workforce through the CCC platform to help them provide even better service to their insurance industry clients.

And for us, this partnership furthers our mission, and the mission of our parent company, Crawford & Company, to help restore and enhance lives, businesses, and communities.